The  Oregon Trail covered  2,000 miles and took about six months to travel. Used up until to the mid-1800’s, the trail led travelers across what later became six states: Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon. Some 150 years later, my trip took only a week and involved Nevada, Utah, California, and Oregon.

My trip started in Reno, Nevada, with a visit to the local Reno/Sparks user group. I presented the popular “Top 10 vulnerabilities of IBM i that you need to fix NOW” and gave away another gift card and a number of great PowerTech t-shirts.

Last week also marked an exciting time for the PowerTech team back in Minneapolis with the release of a new version Network Security. Version 6 of our popular exit program solution includes a cleaner user interface, several new reports, and the ability to set rules for specific objects and IFS stream files. Watch for the formal announcements and press release.

I opted not to return to Minneapolis for the weekend, and instead drove the 90 minutes to South Lake Tahoe which straddles the Nevada/California state line. If you haven’t visited this part of the world, you are missing a treat. I visited when I was in town last Spring for COMMON, but seeing it in the midst of perfect winter conditions is spectacular, and skiers—cross-country and downhill—are in heaven here! The highlights for me included the bizarre sight of snow covered beaches, and the breathtaking Emerald Bay.

I arrived in Oregon late on Sunday night. On Monday, I conducted a security workshop at the offices of MSI Systems Integrators in downtown Portland. Afterward, I met with Sirius Computer Solutions, another PowerTech security partner, to talk about their growth in their security practice, and how PowerTech can provide additional sales support to their extensive organization. I am looking forward to following up on some of the action items that we put together.

The main purpose of my visit to Portland was to present to the local user group. On Tuesday, I repeated the popular session on the “Top 10 vulnerabilities of IBM i that you need to fix NOW.” This was one of the most engaging groups I have had the pleasure of meeting, and the normal 60 minute presentation ran close to two hours based on great questions and pertinent side discussions.

After the session, I followed the recommendation of one of the session attendees and took a short drive to the Columbia River Gorge. Even though the light was beginning to fail, I was able to capture some memorable images of the impressive Multnomah Falls, a combination of two water falls with a combined height of 611ft, more than three times the height of the Niagara Falls that I visited last month.

I fly back to Minnesota on Wednesday for a quick turnaround to repack my suitcase and then I am off to the Help/Systems, International office in the U.K. On a personal level, this trip has special significance as I was born and raised a short distance from the office location in Fleet. It has been almost 11 years since I last returned, and my two teenage children will be accompanying me back “home.”

I look forward to speaking with you again next week from England!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 9:26 am and is filed under Company News, Other, Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.